What is Protestantism?

Protestantism encompasses faith and practice that originated with doctrines and religious, political, and ecclesiological impulses of the Protestant Reformation. The term Protestantism has been used in several different senses, often as a general term to refer to "Western Christianity" that is not subject to papal authority, including some traditions that were not part of the original Protestant movement.

Protestant and Protestantism

Protestantism is
one of the three major divisions in Christendom that claims to be Christian; the others are
Catholicism and the Eastern "Orthodox" churches.

Protestantism began in
Europe with the Reformation of the 16th century. Early leaders were Martin
Luther and John Calvin. King Henry VIII in England led the church
in his country out of communion with the Church of Rome after the
Pope refused to grant him a divorce with the right to remarriage.
Although he opposed Protestant doctrines, his action in ending the
Pope's role in England contributed to the advance of Protestantism
under Henry's successors.

The exact origin of the
term protestant is unsure, and may come either from French:
protestant or German: protestant. However, it is certain that both
languages derived their word from the Latin: protestantem,
meaning "one who publicly declares/protests", which refers
to the letter of protestation by Lutheran princes against the
decision of the Diet of Speyer in 1529, which reaffirmed the edict of
the Diet of Worms in 1521, banning Martin Luther's 95 theses of
protest against some beliefs and practices of the early 16th century
Catholic Church.

The term Protestant was
not initially applied to the Reformers, but later was used to
describe all groups protesting Roman Catholic orthodoxy. Since that
time, the term Protestant has been used in many different senses,
often as a general term merely to signify so-called Christians
who belong to neither the Roman Catholic, Eastern or Oriental
"Orthodoxy" churches.

Protestant Reformation

The
Protestant Reformation
was the 16th century movement which led to the separation of the
Protestant churches from the Roman Catholic Church. It is usually
said to have started when Martin Luther nailed his 95
Theses to the door
of the cathedral in Wittenburg, Germany calling for a discussion of
false doctrines and malpractices within the Catholic Church as he saw
them. These included the sale of indulgences and the doctrine
underlying them, as well as the powers of the Pope. He had not,
however, intended to create a rival church.

The
fundamental principles of the Protestant Reformation is known as the
Five Solas. Luther was supported by several European leaders and
religious provoking a religious revolution that began in Germany, and
extending through Switzerland, France, Netherlands, England,
Scandinavia and some parts of Eastern Europe, especially the Baltic
countries and Hungary. The response of the Roman Catholic Church was
the movement known as the Counter-Reformation or Catholic
Reformation, that begun with the Council of Trent.

Background of the Protestant
Reformation

Moral Corruption in the Leadership
of the Church

The years
leading up to the Protestant Reformation were plagued by moral
corruption and abuse of position by some in the Roman Catholic
Church. The priesthood was guilty of several abuses of privilege and
responsibility, including simony (using one's wealth or influence to
purchase an ecclesiastical office), the selling of relics and
indulgences, pluralism (holding multiple offices simultaneously) and
absenteeism (the failure to reside in the parish where they were
supposed to minister). The practice of celibacy which was imposed by
the church on the priesthood was often abused or ignored, leading to
immoral conduct on the part of the clergy. Secular-minded, ignorant
priests corrupted their position by neglect or abuse of power.

During the fifteenth
century the worldliness and corruption by men in the church reached its
worst. The problem of corruption reached all the way to the papacy.
The Renaissance affected the popes of the period. Many of the
Renaissance popes such as Julius II (1441-1513) were humanists who
were more interested in classical culture and art than in spiritual
concerns. Some, such as Alexander VI (1431-1503), lived notoriously
wicked and scandalous lives. Leo X (1475-1521), the son of Lorenzo
de' Medici and pope when Martin Luther posted the Ninety-five Theses,
once said that God gave him the papacy, so he would "enjoy it."

Among those
who spoke out for a reform of the church was the Dominican Giralamo
Savonarola (1452-1498) of Florence, Italy. This fiery preacher spoke
out against the corrupt morals of the city's leaders and the abuses
of the papacy. The people were won over to Savonarola's cause in
Florence, but because of religious rivalries and political
circumstances, the movement was short-lived. Although innocent,
Savonarola was hanged and burned for heresy in 1498.

Early Reforming Religious Movements

During the
late middle ages several heretical movements arose that challenged
some of the basic doctrines of Scripture and Roman Catholic
Tradition. Many of these movements were officially condemned by the
Church as heresy and were severely suppressed.

Albigensians

The
Albigensians arose in southern France in the late twelfth and early
thirteenth centuries. The Abigensians (also called Cathari) held to a
strict dualism similar to the ancient gnostics. They believed that
the world with all its misery and corruption was created by an evil
God (that sometimes is associated with Satan) and that the spiritual
and heavenly realm was created by the good and true God. Nonetheless,
the Cathars also believed that there are particles of the lost
kingdom of God in this world, and they need to be found. They
practiced an exaggerated asceticism (they viewed self-starvation as an "assurance" of salvation), considering themselves the only
pure and perfect. They also held the New Testament to be the sole
standard of authority and completely rejected the Old Testament and
the vengeful and angry God described within it. (Not that there ever
was a difference between the God of the Old and New Testaments, of
course. More weight was simply put on God's justice in the Old Law
while in the New, with the coming of Christ, more weight was put on
His mercy and love. His justice and mercy have always remained the
same though). The sect became the object of a fierce campaign of
just persecution when Pope Innocent III launched a crusade against
them in 1204.

Waldensians

A movement
known as the Waldensians was probably founded in the eleventh century
by Peter Waldo. Traveling preachers known as the Poor Men of Lyons
emphasized the study and preaching of the Bible. They translated the
New Testament into the vernacular, rejected the Catholic doctrines of
the priesthood and of purgatory, and of indulgences and prayers for
the dead, and advocated a return to the Scriptures as the only
authority in religion, seemingly ignoring the New Testament's
endorsement of tradition as equal along with scripture (2
Thessalonians 2:15). They denounced all lying as a grievous sin,
refused to take oaths and considered the shedding of human blood
unlawful. They consequently condemned war and the infliction of the
death penalty and even renounced self-defense. Others rejected infant
baptism, transubstantiation, and tried to return to "simple apostolic
Christianity". They allowed any "believer" to administer sacraments,
rejected Catholic feast days with very few exceptions, and they
ultimately disassociated themselves from physical paraphernalia
including buildings, cemeteries, liturgies, and the like.

John Wycliffe

In England,
John Wycliffe (1324-84), a well-known professor at Oxford, also
challenged the authority of the papacy. During the Avignon Papacy, he
argued that all legitimate dominion comes from God and is
characterized by the authority exercised by Christ on earth –
not to be served but to serve. During the Great Schism, Wycliffe
taught that the true Church of Christ, rather than consisting of the
pope and church hierarchy, is the invisible body of the elect. He
promoted the study of Scripture over the Tradition of the Church. He
taught that the Scriptures ought to be put into the hands of the
elect, and in their own language. Wycliffe thus provided an English
translation in about 1384.

Wycliffe denied the doctrine of
transubstantiation, called the Pope anti-Christ, argued the priesthood
of all believers, condemned the saint cult and the veneration of relics.
He repudiated the sale of indulgences and masses for the dead. He
believed that lordship held by humans is forfeited by mortal sin.
He also believed that no monks or clergy, not even the righteous,
could hold temporal possessions without sin, and further that it was
lawful for kings and princes to deprive them of what they held
unlawfully.

Wycliffe was
eventually condemned for heresy, but his influence continued. His
followers, called "Lollards," spread his teachings as an
underground movement in England. They rejected the doctrine of
transubstantiation, the veneration of images, clerical celibacy, and
other Catholic doctrines as abominations. They were an important
influence in England on the eve of the Protestant Reformation.

Like the
heretics of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Wycliffe started
with an attack on clerical wealth; he then went on to dispute the
authority of the Church and, finally, its sacramental system.

John Huss

Another early
voice calling for reform was John Huss (1369-1415), a Bohemian
preacher and scholar. Influenced by Wycliffe's writings, Huss argued
that the true Church was not the institution as defined by
Catholicism, but the body of the elect under the headship of Christ.
He insisted the Bible is the final authority by which the pope or any
Christian is to be judged. Huss was burned for heresy in 1415, about
a century before Luther's stand in Wittenberg. The Hussite movement
continued to grow after their leader's death, preparing the way for
the Protestant Reformation.

Considerations

If the Bible
is the only rule of faith for a Christian as the above and many other
heretics claim, then logically the Church would not be a rule of
faith for a Christian. However, the Bible clearly teaches that one
must hear the Church and follow Tradition.

Matthew
18:17 "And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the
church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as
an heathen man and a publican."

2
Thessalonians 2:15 "Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold
the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our
epistle."

Luke
10:16 "He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth
you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that
sent me."

This teaching
of Jesus, that one must hear the Church under pain of being
considered a heathen, refutes the entire idea of Scripture alone.
This proves that the heretics that denies the Church denies Jesus
Christ and the Bible.

Further, the
bible teaches that the church, not the bible, is the pillar and
foundation of the truth.

1
Timothy 3:15 "But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how
thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the
church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth."

As one former Protestant
minister (who eventually saw the falsity of Protestantism) put it:
"If I were writing that verse [1 Tim. 3:15] as a Protestant, I
would have said that the Bible, not the Church, is the pillar and
ground of the truth. But St. Paul says it's the Church. This means
that the Church must be every bit as infallible as the Bible, and
that it must present something unique by way of presenting the truth
of Jesus Christ."

The unique role of the
Church is that it sets forth the true meaning of Scripture and
Tradition in precise terms and dogmas, something the Bible was not
intended to do in all of its passages, which should be obvious to any
honest person considering the issue. All the different heretical
sects that has been created simply because they don't know how to
interpret scripture correctly, undeniably proves this notion. Moreover,
if the Church is infallible and the pillar of truth, there must
obviously be a way of recognizing its infallible teaching by means
of a continued succession of authority which would safeguard the
truth and exercise its authority (see The
Papacy in Scripture).

Some Interesting Facts About Martin
Luther,

The Originator of Protestantism

The following sections contains content used from author: Brother Peter Dimond of Most Holy Family Monastery / mostholyfamilymonastery.com

Protestantism
originated with Martin Luther (1483-1546), an ex-Catholic. Even
though Protestants would contend that they follow “true
biblical Christianity,” and not a man, they are inclined to
defend Martin Luther. This is because Martin Luther was the first
identifiable spokesman for their version of “Christianity.”
Prior to his separation from the Catholic Church in 1520, there was
no public defender of what we now know to be Protestantism, the core
doctrines of which are justification
by faith alone and Scripture
alone.

Even though
Luther is the central figure in the history of Protestantism, few
Protestants know much about him, or about how he came upon his
beliefs. I invite the reader to consider the following facts.

Martin Luther
was born in 1483 and baptized as a Catholic the next day. He entered
an Augustinian Catholic friary in 1505, and was ordained a Catholic
priest in 1507. Therefore, as a young professing Catholic priest,
Protestantism was unknown to Martin Luther and indeed to the
rest of the Christian world.

On
Oct. 31, 1517, Martin Luther tacked his famous 95 Theses on the
church door in Wittenberg, Germany. Most Protestants today cite this
date as the beginning of the Protestant “reformation.”
They think this represented Luther’s public stand for the
Protestant faith, for “true and biblical Christianity.”
What they don’t know is that Martin Luther’s famous 95
Theses acknowledged
the office of the pope more than 20 times.
At the time of the posting of the Theses – and indeed before it
and for some time afterwards – Luther claimed to be a Catholic
priest and monk. In his 95 Theses, Luther clearly acknowledges the
office
of the
Pope as instituted by Christ,
although he detracts from its dignity and powers in the matter of
Indulgences.

The
formal title for his 95 Theses is the Disputation
of Doctor Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences,
Oct. 31, 1517. In addition to acknowledging the pope, numbers 25-29
of the Theses acknowledge Purgatory.
Luther acknowledges the existence of Purgatory, although he departs
from Catholic teaching in what he says about it. Luther also declares
his belief in Indulgences, although he contradicts traditional
Catholic doctrine on the issue. The following is typical of the
contradictions exhibited by Luther.

#71
of Martin Luther’s 95 Theses, Oct. 31, 1517: “Let
him be anathema and accursed who denies the apostolic character of
the indulgences.”

The point
here is that even on Oct. 31, 1517, the Protestant “faith”
was still unknown to Martin Luther and indeed to the rest of the
Christian world. There was no statement about justification by
faith alone or Scripture alone; there was as yet no repudiation of
the papal office or many other Catholic dogmas which Protestants
today would reject. What you have, at this point, is a confused and
convoluted priest who, while claiming to be Catholic, was clearly
falling from the traditional Catholic faith into his own wild version
of it (especially with regard to Indulgences). He was no Protestant.
Even at this point, the so-called biblical “faith” was
unknown to its eventual founder.

In
1518, Luther published a Sermon
on Indulgences and Grace,
in which he attacked the traditional way of dividing Penance into
contrition, confession and satisfaction (Dr. Ludwig Pastor, History
of the Popes, Vol.
7, pp. 355-356). Luther claimed it was not found in Holy Scripture.
This, along with Luther’s contradiction of traditional Catholic
teaching on Indulgences, prompted the Church to summon him to Rome
for an investigation. (It should be noted that there were indeed some
abuses by Church men on Indulgences. Such abuses represented a
departure from Catholic teaching on the matter. Indulgences cannot be
bought. Occasional abuses in this area – which were committed
by a few Church men of a world-wide Church – in no way justify
repudiating the traditional teaching. This teaching on Indulgences is
rooted in the treasury of the merits of Jesus Christ and the saints,
and the power of the keys
given to St. Peter. According to
Catholic teaching, Indulgences are given for certain specified good
works or pious actions (such as prayers, etc.). They remove only the
temporal punishment of already forgiven sins. They are not, as
Protestants would suggest, a means to buy one’s way into
Heaven.)

At
the beginning of July 1518, Luther is presented with an official
summons to appear in Rome and give an accounting of his doctrines.
While maintaining his new (and heretical) views on Indulgences and
Penance,
Luther claims “that
the Roman Church has always maintained the true faith, and that it is
necessary for all Christians to be in unity of faith with her.”
(Dr. Ludwig Pastor, History
of the Popes, Vol.
7, p. 366) That means that, even after having been summoned to Rome
to answer for his new ideas, Luther professes that the Roman Church
(the Roman Catholic Church) has the true faith. At this point, Luther
is undoubtedly drifting into his own personalized view of
“Christianity”; but he is still no Protestant, as his
statement about the Roman Church demonstrates. The so-called pure,
simple and “biblical faith” was still unknown to its
eventual founder in July of 1518.

As Luther’s
influence spread, and his commitment to new ideas hardened, the
actions against him increased. Pope Leo X dispatched the learned
Cardinal Cajetan to handle the case. Cajetan was to examine the
situation and, if possible, get through to Luther. This occurred in
the fall of 1518, but Luther remained obstinate. Despite his
commitment to his new ideas, Luther declared the following at one of
these interviews: “The notary read out a declaration on behalf
of Luther, that as far as he could remember he [Luther] had never
taught anything against Holy Scripture, the doctrines of the Church,
the Papal decretals [decrees of the popes], or sound reason. But
as he was a man subject to error, he submitted himself to the
decisions of the Holy Church and to all who knew better than he did.”
(Dr. Ludwig Pastor, History of the Popes, Vol. 7, p. 373.)

Once again,
we see that Luther claims fidelity to papal teaching and to all of
Catholic doctrine. He also appeals specifically to the pope, and
expresses his willingness to retract if the pope decided against him
(Ibid., pp. 375, 377). The so-called “biblical faith”
(Protestantism) was still unknown to its eventual founder.

Not long
after his meetings with Cajetan in November of 1518, Luther’s
views underwent another significant development. He came to the
conclusion that the pope, to whose decrees he had just claimed
submission, is the antichrist. He writes: “I send you my
trifling work that you may see whether I am not right in supposing
that, according to Paul, the real Antichrist holds sway over the
Roman court.” (De Wette, I., 192; Enders I., 317; Pastor, Vol.
7, pp. 378-379.) Numerous utterances from this time show that Luther
had “fully formulated his proposition that the pope was
antichrist.”

Yet,
at this very time that he was calling the pope “the
Antichrist,” Luther appealed to a general council
from the pope (Luther’s works, Weimar ed., II., 36 seq.). In
other words, Luther considered the decisions of general councils to
be definitive and authoritative. This of course contradicts one of
the pillars of Protestantism: Scripture
alone.

Therefore,
even at the point that Luther had firmly set his face against the
Papacy as “the Antichrist,” he still hadn’t
discovered Protestantism. The so-called “biblical faith”
was still unknown to its eventual founder. One should consider this
fact deeply; for it demonstrates that whenever Luther did come up
with Protestantism, it was nothing more than the creation of a
confused mind.

THESE
FACTS DEMONSTRATE THAT ALL PROTESTANTS HAVE EMBRACED A PURELY
MAN-CREATED RELIGION, WHICH LUTHER WAS INVENTING AND RE-INVENTING BY
THE DAY

The true
faith of Jesus Christ is a deposit. It does not fall out of the sky
to a man who lives 15 centuries after Christ. It was revealed by
Jesus Christ to His Apostles 2,000 years ago, and it was passed on by
the Apostles to the Church.

Jude
1:3 “… it was needful for me to write unto you, and
exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which
was once delivered unto the saints.”

The true
faith thus has a historical link to the apostolic Church; and it can
be shown to have been believed by those who came before in the
Church. It is passed on from generation to generation. Martin Luther
grew up with the Catholic faith. Protestantism was unknown to him as
a child; it was unknown to him as a priest; it was unknown to him
when he posted his 95 Theses, and even when he first called the pope
the Antichrist and was appealing to a general council. At some point,
indeed, Martin Luther came up with Protestantism, and his conclusions
had no link with his predecessors or even with what he said or
believed before. They were truly the inventions and “discoveries”
of a man, Martin Luther.

Protestants
have thus submitted themselves to a system which Martin Luther came
up with among the rest of his contradictory and ever-changing views.
These “discoveries” include the idea that man is
justified by faith
alone, which word for word
contradicts the teaching of the Bible (James 2:24) – a
contradiction so blatant that Luther felt compelled to criticize the
book of James because it contradicted him. In fact, Luther wanted to
throw James out of the Bible and into the stove (i.e., the fire),
until his friends persuaded him that such a move would be too
radical.

OUTRAGEOUS ACTIONS AND QUOTES OF MARTIN LUTHER –

HE CRITICIZES THE BOOK OF JAMES

Martin
Luther, Preface to the New Testament, 1522: “Therefore
St. James’ epistle is really an epistle of straw, compared to
these others, for it has nothing of the nature of the gospel about
it.”

Here we see
the apostate priest, Martin Luther, denigrating the Book of James
because it contradicts his new idea of justification by faith alone.

Martin
Luther, The Licentiate Examination of Heinrich Schmedenstede,
July 7, 1542: “That epistle of James gives us much trouble, for
the papists embrace it alone and leave out all the rest. Up to this
point I have been accustomed just to deal with and interpret it
according to the sense of the rest of the Scriptures. For you will
judge that none of it must be set forth contrary to manifest Holy
Scripture. Accordingly, if they will not admit my interpretations,
then I shall make rubble also of it. I almost feel like throwing
Jimmy into the stove, as the priest in Kalenberg did.”

Martin Luther
even added the word “alone” to Romans 3:28 in his German
translation of the Bible. He made it say “faith alone,”
when that is not in the text or what it means.

MARTIN
LUTHER SAID A MAN COULD COMMIT FORNICATION AND MURDER 1,000 TIMES A
DAY AND NOT LOSE HIS JUSTIFICATION

Martin Luther
also said that a man could commit fornication and murder 1,000 times
a day and would not lose his justification. He said this to express
his doctrine of justification by faith alone: that is, no matter how
much a person sins, he is still saved as long as he believes (by
faith alone). In the same context, he declared: “be a sinner
and sin boldly.”

The
authenticity of these quotes is not disputed, but openly admitted by
Protestant defenders of Luther.

Martin
Luther, Letter to Melanchthon, August 1, 1521: “If you
are a preacher of grace, then preach a true and not a fictitious
grace; if grace is true, you must bear a true and not a fictitious
sin. God does not save people who are only fictitious sinners. Be
a sinner and sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ even more
boldly, for he is victorious over sin, death, and the world. As
long as we are here [in this world] we have to sin. This life is not
the dwelling place of righteousness, but, as Peter says, we look for
new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. It is
enough that by the riches of God’s glory we have come to know
the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world. No sin will
separate us from the Lamb, even though we commit fornication and
murder a thousand times a day. Do you think that the purchase
price that was paid for the redemption of our sins by so great a Lamb
is too small? Pray boldly—you too are a mighty sinner.”

As mentioned
previously, the true faith is a deposit. It doesn’t fall out of
the sky for the first time to a man who lives 1,500 years after
Christ, and it doesn’t come from the abyss below – as
Martin Luther’s teachings on justification, fornication and
murder do.

LUTHER’S PREOCCUPATION WITH THE DEVIL AND CRUDE SUBJECTS

Martin Luther
also had a preoccupation with the Devil, with the bathroom, and with
matters one can only call disgusting. Even Protestant scholars have
noted that Luther’s fascination with crude subjects is
disquieting. He admittedly had much interaction with the Devil.
“These [demons] would haunt the imagination of Martin Luther
who had visions, which he believed to be actual physical occurrences,
of the devil hurling [excrement] at him and his hurling it back.
Indeed, in one of his many anal combats with the devil – in
which Luther would challenge the devil to ‘lick’ his
posterior – Luther thought the best tactic might be to ‘throw
him into my anus, where he belongs.’” (H.W. Crocker,
Triumph, Roseville, CA: Prima Publishing, 2001, p. 237.) After
he had come to his position against the Papacy, Luther called the
“Papal decretals the Devil’s excretals.” He also
said that the pope and cardinals should be killed, and that he and
his supporters should wash their “hands in their blood.”
(Pastor, History of the Popes, Vol. 7, p. 393.)

Luther claims
that he came up with justification by faith alone while on the
toilet. He claims that it came as “knowledge the Holy Spirit
gave me on the privy in the tower.” (Quoted in William
Manchester, A World Lit only By Fire: The Medieval Mind and the
Renaissance, Little Brown & Co., 1993, p. 140.) In fact,
Luther’s idea that people need to commit real and “honest”
sins seems to have originated from a conversation with the Devil.
This is from Luther’s Table Talk.

“[Luther
said:] When I awoke last night, the Devil came and wanted to debate
with me; he rebuked and reproached me, arguing that I was a sinner.
To this I replied: Tell me something new, Devil! I already
know that perfectly well; I have committed many a solid and real sin.
Indeed there must be good honest sins – not fabricated
and invented ones – for God to forgive for God’s beloved
Son’s sake, who took all of my sins upon Him so that now the
sins I have committed are no longer mine but belong to Christ. This
wonderful gift of God I am not prepared to deny, but want to
acknowledge and confess.”

With these
facts in mind, it should be quite clear how those who followed
Luther’s eventual conclusions (the core of which are faith
alone and Scripture alone) are simply following the
machinations, inventions and discoveries of a man. They are
following the inventions of a man who was guided and used by the
Devil to create a false version of “Christianity” which
would lead countless people astray.

Protestant Theology

However vague and
indefinite the creed of individual Protestants may be, it always
rests on a few standard rules, or principles, bearing on the Sources
of faith, the means of justification, and the constitution of the
church. An acknowledged Protestant authority, Philip Schaff (in "The
New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge", s.v.
Reformation), sums up the principles of Protestantism in the
following words:

"The
Protestant goes directly to the Word of God for instruction, and to
the throne of grace in his devotions; whilst the pious Roman Catholic
consults the teaching of his church, and prefers to offer his prayers
through the medium of the Virgin Mary and the saints.

"From
this general principle of Evangelical freedom, and direct individual
relationship of the believer to Christ, proceed the three fundamental
doctrines of Protestantism — the absolute supremacy of (1) the
Word, and of (2) the grace of Christ, and (3) the general priesthood
of believers. . . . "

Sola Scriptura (Bible Alone)

The first objective or
formal principle proclaims the canonical Scriptures, especially the
New Testament, to be the only infallible source and rule of faith and
practice, and asserts the right of private interpretation of the
same, in distinction from the Roman Catholic view, which declares the
Bible and tradition to be co-ordinate sources and rule of faith, and
makes tradition, especially the decrees of popes and councils, the
only legitimate and infallible interpreter of the Bible. In its
extreme form Chillingworth expressed this principle of the
Reformation in the well-known formula, "The Bible, the whole
Bible, and nothing but the Bible, is the religion of Protestants."

Protestantism, however, by
no means despises or rejects church authority as such, but only
subordinates it to, and measures its value by, the Bible, and
believes in a progressive interpretation of the Bible through the
"expanding" and "deepening" consciousness of Protestant "Christendom". Hence, besides
having its own symbols or standards of public doctrine, it retained
all the articles of the ancient creeds and a large amount of
disciplinary and ritual tradition, and rejected only those doctrines
and ceremonies for which, according to them, no clear warrant was
found in the Bible and which seemed to contradict its letter or
spirit. The Calvinistic branches of Protestantism went farther in
their antagonism to the received traditions than the Lutheran and the
Anglican; but all (or most) united in rejecting the authority of the
pope, the meritoriousness of good works, indulgences, the worship of
the Virgin, saints, and relics, the sacraments (other than baptism
and the Eucharist), the dogma of transubstantiation and the Sacrifice
of the Mass, purgatory, and prayers for the dead, priestly
confession, celibacy of the clergy, the monastic system, and the use
of the Latin tongue in public worship, for which the vernacular
languages were substituted.

Sola Scriptura (Bible Alone): An
Examination

According to Protestants,
the Bible teaches that Scripture (the written word of God) is the
only rule of faith for a Christian. Along with justification by faith
alone (sola fide), Scripture alone (sola scriptura) was one of the
central tenets of the Protestant reformation.

However, the truth is that
the Bible does not teach that Scripture is the only rule of faith for
a Christian. The Bible teaches that both Scripture and apostolic
tradition are sources of Christ's revelation, and that one must
accept both of them along with the Church. That's why the Catholic
Church has always taught that there are two sources of divine
revelation (Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition); and that the
Church instituted by Jesus Christ was given authority to determine
the authentic meaning of Scripture and Tradition.

If the Bible
is the only rule of faith for a Christian, then logically the Church
or tradition would not be a rule of faith for a Christian. However,
the Bible clearly teaches that one must hear the Church and follow
tradition.

Matthew
18:17 "And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the
church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as
an heathen man and a publican."

2
Thessalonians 2:15 "Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold
the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our
epistle."

Luke
10:16 "He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth
you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that
sent me."

This teaching
of Jesus, that one must hear the Church under pain of being
considered a heathen, refutes the entire idea of Scripture alone.

Jesus'
condemnation of the "tradition of men" (Matthew 15:9, Mark
7:8, etc.) had nothing to do with the true apostolic tradition, which
the Bible says we must accept. Jesus was condemning the man-made
practices of the Pharisees.

2
Thessalonians 3:6 "Now we command you, brethren, in the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every
brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he
received of us."

Further, the
bible teaches that the church, not the bible, is the pillar and
foundation of the truth.

1
Timothy 3:15 "But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how
thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the
church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth."

As one former Protestant
minister (who eventually saw the falsity of Protestantism) put it:
"If I were writing that verse [1 Tim. 3:15] as a Protestant, I
would have said that the Bible, not the Church, is the pillar and
ground of the truth. But St. Paul says it's the Church. This means
that the Church must be every bit as infallible as the Bible, and
that it must present something unique by way of presenting the truth
of Jesus Christ."

The unique role of the
Church is that it sets forth the true meaning of Scripture and
Tradition in precise terms and dogmas, something the Bible was not
intended to do in all of its passages, which should be obvious to any
honest person considering the issue. All the thousands of sects that
has been created throughout the ages, and especially after the
Protestant reformation, simply because they didn't knew how to
interpret scripture correctly, undeniably proves this fact. Moreover,
if the Church is infallible and the pillar of truth, there must
obviously be a way of recognizing its infallible teaching by means of
a continued succession of authority which would safeguard the truth
and exercise its authority (see The
Papacy in Scripture).

Sola Fide (Faith Alone) and Sola Gratia
(Grace Alone)

The subjective principle
of the Reformation is justification by faith alone, or, rather, by
free grace through faith operative in good works. It has reference to
the personal appropriation of salvation, and aims to give all glory
to Christ, by declaring that the sinner is justified before God (i.e.
is acquitted of guilt, and declared righteous) solely on the ground
of the all-sufficient merits of Christ as apprehended by a living
faith, in opposition to the theory — then prevalent, and
substantially sanctioned by the Council of Trent — which makes
faith and good works co-ordinate sources of justification, laying the
chief stress upon works. Protestantism does not depreciate good
works; but it denies their value as sources or conditions of
justification, and insists on them as the necessary fruits of faith,
and evidence of justification.

Sola gratia is the
teaching that salvation comes by divine grace. Protestant reformers
believed that this emphasis was in contradistinction to the teaching
of the Roman Catholic Church, though the Catholic Church had
explicitly affirmed the doctrine of sola gratia in the year 529 in
the Council of Orange, which condemned the Pelagian heresy (which
taught salvation apart from grace). As a response to this
misunderstanding, Catholic doctrine was further clarified in the
Council of Trent—the Council explained that salvation is made
possible only by grace; the faith and works of men are secondary
means that have their origins in and are sustained by grace.

Sola Fide (or Faith
Alone Through Grace Alone): An Examination

Catholics believe in sola
gratia. But it is a faith that is not separated from works (per
James). Faith inherently includes these works (even Luther and Calvin
agree with that). But we're not saved by faith alone (that's where
Protestantism errs); we're saved by grace alone. That is the Catholic
teaching. Grace is primary in the whole process, so in that very real
sense we can say "saved by grace alone" (i.e., without
separating works of course) -- whereas we can never say "saved
by faith alone" (i.e., with works playing no part at all) --
which is classic Protestant heresy, or "saved by works alone"
(i.e., without grace) -- which is the Pelagian heresy. The true
Catholic position will always include the works alongside grace and
faith.

The majority of
Protestants not only believe in faith alone, but also in eternal
security, which means that according to them, a true believer cannot
lose his salvation. These doctrines contradict both the natural law
and reason which says that every man shall be rewarded or punished
for his deeds. It also contradicts, word for word, the teaching of
James 2 in scripture, which teach that faith without works is dead,
and that man is not saved by faith alone. A person who believes in
faith alone or eternal security is a heretic, because he rejects a
truth he knows to be true from the natural law, that God is a
rewarder and a punisher of our actions, and that faith alone does not
justify a man only, but our deeds also.

Galatians
5:19-21 "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are
fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, luxury, Idolatry, witchcrafts,
enmities, contentions, emulations, wraths, quarrels, dissensions,
sects, Envies, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like. Of
the which I foretell you, as I have foretold to you, that they who
do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of
God."

How clear does it have to
get? You can lose your salvation if you do certain things.

Solus Christus ("by
Christ alone"), is one of the five solas that summarise the
Protestant Reformers' basic belief that salvation is through Christ
alone and that Christ is the only mediator between God and man.

The Protestants
characterize the dogma concerning the Pope as Christ's representative
head of the Church on earth, the concept of works made meritorious by
Christ, and the Catholic idea of a treasury of the merits of Christ
and his saints, as a denial that Christ is the only mediator between
God and man.

Soli Deo gloria is a Latin
term for "Glory to God alone". All glory is due to God
alone, since salvation is accomplished solely through his will and
action—not only the gift of the all-sufficient atonement of
Jesus on the cross but also the gift of faith in that atonement,
created in the heart of the believer by the Holy Spirit. The
reformers believed that human beings—even saints canonized by
the Catholic Church, the popes, and the ecclesiastical hierarchy—are
not worthy of any glory, prayer, praise or veneration.

The Catholic Church
teaches that there is one God, the Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Holy
Ghost, three divine persons in one God. Jesus Christ is the second
person of the Holy Trinity, true God and true man. God alone is
adored and worshipped. This adoration or worship, which is given to
God alone, is called latria.

Saints in Heaven are not
adored, but are venerated as holy men and women of God in Heaven. The
veneration which is given to saints, which is not adoration, is
called dulia. The veneration which is given to the greatest of all
the saints, the mother of God, is called hyperdulia. Hyperdulia is
also veneration, not worship or adoration.

There are
biblical reasons why the Catholic Church has always recognized the
importance and the necessity of devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
She is the new Eve, the new Ark, the pure vessel, the sealed gate,
and the Mother of God. To fail to have devotion to her is equivalent
to a man in the Old Testament who would refuse to venerate the Ark of
the Covenant or would refuse to march behind it to a battle. Such a
man would fall prey to the enemies of God and would be separated from
the camp of God's people (see The
Biblical basis for praying to Mary and for Catholic teachings on
Mary)

Jesus is the only mediator
between God and men, protestant say, so you can't include saints or
prayers to them. This objection is false for many reasons. Just
because Jesus is the only mediator does not mean that others do not
mediate as part of the one mediation of Christ. For example, in John
10:16 Jesus says that He is the one and only shepherd; but He
appoints Peter to shepherd His sheep in John 21:15-17. Ephesians 4:11
also teaches that there are many pastors or shepherds. The point is
that these other sub-shepherds all work under and by the institution
of the one shepherd, Jesus.

Another example is that
Jesus says He is the supreme judge. We read this in John 9:39 and in
many other passages. Certain men of God, however, will also act on
His behalf as judges in Heaven, even of angels. We read this in 1
Corinthians 6:2, Matthew 19:28, and elsewhere. Yes, Jesus is the
unique mediator, because the mediator is the one who unites man to
God. Jesus alone did this by His passion and death. We read this in 2
Corinthians 5:18. But that does not mean that within the one
mediation of Christ there are not others who participate in His
mediation. In fact, the Bible clearly teaches it.

If Jesus' unique mediation
excluded prayers to saints, then it would also exclude asking a
fellow man to pray for you. There is no way around the logic of this
argument. For when you ask a fellow man to pray for you, instead
of going to Jesus directly, you are asking another person to act as a
mediator with Jesus for you. That's what Catholics do when they pray
to saints. Therefore, if prayers to saints are excluded by the
unique mediation of Jesus, then asking others for prayers is
definitely excluded as well.

Not only do most
Protestants accept the concept of asking others to pray for them –
thus contradicting their rejection of prayers to saints – but,
in the New Testament, St. Paul himself repeatedly asks others for
prayers.

Romans
15:30 "Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's
sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with
me in your prayers to God for me."

Paul also tells others
that he is praying for them.

Colossians
1:3 "… praying always for you…"

Paul even says that the
prayers of others bestow gifts upon him.

2
Corinthians 1:11 "Ye also helping together by prayer for us,
that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons
thanks may be given by many on our behalf."

The Book of Revelation or
the Apocalypse also gives us a glimpse of how the saints and their
prayers intercede for men.

Revelation
8:3-4 "And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a
golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that
he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden
altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the
incense, which came with the prayers of the saints,
ascended up before God out of the angel's hand."

We see another example in
Revelation chapter 5.

Revelation
5:8 "… elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one
of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which
are the prayers of the saints."

Regarding the Pope as
Christ representative on earth. The Bible contains irrefutable
evidence that Jesus made St. Peter the first pope. Among other
things: the change of Peter's name; the keys of the kingdom –
The striking similarity between Matthew 16 and Isaias 22; who is the
Rock of Matthew 16? It's Peter; Peter's unfailing faith; Jesus
entrusts all of His sheep to Peter; the prominence of Peter's name in
Scripture; Peter takes the prime role in the replacement of Judas;
Peter's primacy in the Acts of the Apostles and more. In addition,
the early Church recognized the Bishop of Rome as the successor to
St. Peter's authority (see The
Bible teaches that Jesus made St. Peter the first Pope).

25,000 Different non-Catholic
Denominations –

Doctrinal Chaos is the bad Fruit of
Man-Made Religion

2
Peter 2:1 "But there were also false prophets among the people,
even as there shall be among you lying teachers, who shall bring
in sects of perdition, and deny the Lord who bought them:
bringing upon themselves swift destruction."

Following
Martin Luther's excommunication from the Catholic Church in 1520,
which marked the beginning of the Protestant movement, over 20,000
different denominations have been created in about 500 years. In
1980, David A. Barrett's World Christian Encyclopedia (Oxford
University Press) gave the number of different denominations as
20,780. He projected that there would be 22,190 denominations by
1985.

This would
mean that there are approximately 25,000 (or possibly 30,000)
different denominations today. Even if, for the sake of argument, one
were to take a conservative estimate, and give the number as only
15,000 different denominations, this equates to more than one new
sect having been created every two weeks.

When we
consider the fact that the original founders of Protestantism didn't
even agree with each other on major points of doctrine, such
denominational chaos shouldn't be a surprise. Protestantism is
man-made religion, in which each person ultimately determines for
himself what he thinks the Bible teaches. Martin Luther (the
initiator of Protestantism) condemned the doctrinal views of John
Calvin and Huldrych Zwingli, two other leading Protestant figures.
They all claimed to follow the Bible.

Basically all
of these thousands of non-Catholics sects purport to be Christian and
claim to follow the Bible, even though they disagree with each other
on crucial doctrinal matters, such as: the precise nature of
justification; whether human works and sins are a part of salvation;
whether men have free will; predestination; whether infants need
baptism for salvation; what Communion is; whether it's necessary to
confess to the Lord; which books of the New Testament apply to us
today; the structure of the Church's hierarchy; the role of bishops
and ministers; the Sabbath; the role of women in church; etc. ad
nauseam. Most of these groups even claim that the individual
"Christian" will be led by the Holy Spirit when privately
reading the Bible. The disunity of these sects constitutes an
irrefutable proof that their doctrine is not of the Spirit of Truth;
and that their principle of operation (i.e., Scripture alone apart
from the Church and Tradition) is not the doctrine of the Bible and
the Apostles.

Ephesians
4:4-5 "One body and one Spirit; as you are called in one hope of
your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism."

How Old Is Your Protestant Man-Made
Church?

If you are a Lutheran,
your religion was founded by Martin Luther, an ex-monk of the
Catholic Church, in approximately 1520.

If you belong to the
Church of England, your religion was founded by King Henry VIII (an
ex-Catholic) in the year 1534. Henry VIII decided to create his own
church when Pope Clement VII would not grant him a divorce with the
right to remarry.

If you are a Mennonite,
Menno Simons (an ex-Catholic) created your religion in 1536.

If you are a Presbyterian,
John Knox (an ex-Catholic) founded your sect in Scotland in the year
1560.

If you are a
Congregationalist, your religion began with Robert Brown in Holland
in 1582.

If you are a Baptist, John
Smyth created your sect in Amsterdam in 1605.

If you are of the Dutch
Reformed church, your church began with Michaelis Jones in New York
in 1628.

If you are a Quaker, your
religion began with George Fox in 1652.

If you are a Protestant
Episcopalian, Samuel Seabury created your sect in the American
colonies in the 17th century, as an offshoot of the Church of
England.

If you are Amish, Jacob
Amman created your religion in 1693, as an offshoot of the
Mennonites.

If you are a Methodist,
your religion was launched by John and Charles Wesley in England in
1744.

If you are a Unitarian,
Theophilus Lindley founded your sect in London in 1774.

If you are a Mormon
("Latter Day Saints"), your religion comes from Joseph
Smith, who revealed it in Palmyra, N.Y. in 1829.

If you are a Seventh Day
Adventist, your religion was created by Ellen White in 1860.

If you worship with the
Salvation Army, William Booth started your sect in London in 1865.

If you are of the
"Jehovah's Witnesses," your beliefs came from
Charles Taze Russell in 1872.

If you are a "Christian
Scientist," Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy devised your religion in 1879.

If you belong to one of
the religious organizations known as "Church of the Nazarene,"
"Pentecostal Gospel," "Holiness Church,"
"Pilgrim Holiness Church," "Assemblies of God,"
"United Church of Christ," etc., your religion is one of
the thousands of new sects founded by men in the last century.

If you are Catholic, you
know that your religion was founded in the year 33 by Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, true God and true man; and that this one Church, to
which people must belong to be saved, will exist until the end of
time.

Jesus promised, "I
will build my Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against
it" (Matt. 16:18). This means that his Church will never be
destroyed and will never fall away from Him. His Church will survive
until his return, it means that the Church will, until the end of
time, remain essentially what she is. One must belong to the one true
universal Church Jesus Christ established to be Saved, for he who
refuses to hear the Church is like the heathen and publican (Matthew
18:17).

Only the Catholic Church
existed in the tenth century, in the fifth century, and in the first
century, faithfully teaching the doctrines given by Christ to the
apostles, omitting nothing. The line of popes can be traced back, in
unbroken succession, to Peter himself. This is unequaled by any
institution in history.

Copyright information: All videos and articles on our site are free to copy and share for free. Please remember to also include live links to the source of the information.
We are looking for translators who have the skill to make a good translation of important articles for the salvation of souls. We are also in need of translators who can translate Saint Bridget's Revelations into different languages. If you can help us on this important work, please contact us here.
We need your help! We are spending all the time our expenses among things like websites, webhotels, and giving away free material, dvds and books in order to warn people and tell them the truth. So if you like the material and want to help us—and be yourself a sharer—in saving souls, then please make a donation, pray for us and help us spread it in order to help our beloved brothers and sisters who have not found this information yet. If you have been graced by God with the means to do so, please support our work. Any donation that you can give is highly appreciated and much needed! Help us help our beloved brothers' and sisters' souls. Your Support Counts! All for the Glory of God and the salvation of souls! Please click here!
"And whosoever shall give to drink to one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, amen I say to you, he shall not lose his reward." Matthew 10:42